


Fight, Flight, or What you Deserve

by the_scarlet_01



Series: Facing the Inevitable [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Also tossed in AOS because I was already mixing it up why not?, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Avengers & AOS post CATWS AU, Bobbi has two ex husbands because SHIELD is rough on the love life, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Couldn't resist using Kate & Lucky, Depression, Hints of past Clint & Coulson (possibly slash haven't decided), I still am terrible at this whole tagging thing..., Mix of MCU & Hawkeye Comics, Other, PTSD, guess you could say I took a few liberties, possible triggers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-13 13:29:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3383318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_scarlet_01/pseuds/the_scarlet_01
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes flight seems like the better option to Clint Barton, especially when half his life is a giant lie, and being replaced is apparently an easy thing to do, though others disagree...<br/>For Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov they'd rather fight, and by fight they mean slapping Phil Coulson in the face and an angry disappointed lecture from Steve Rogers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Confrontations and Initiating Flight

**Author's Note:**

> Combines elements of MCU, Hawkeye Comics, and Agents of SHIELD. Please excuse the liberties I have taken. I own nothing. I just had an idea about Cap and Nat confronting Coulson after Clint vanishes.

Clint Barton has had his heart broken more than a few times throughout his life. He was used to it. His family started the chain of fissures when he was a little kid and he had a weird way of just expecting things to go wrong. It was all he knew. He’d heard about some stupid psychology term that talked about self-fulfilling blah blah blah. That if he went in thinking things would go bust that he’d already lost. He didn’t care. It was how life worked. Natasha Romanov was the first person to ever make her way into his life and refuse to let him destroy it. Lucky and Kate seemed to take the hint from her too. Everything else he seemed to ruin, like his relationships with Bobbi and Jess. He just kept failing. Being a walking train wreck was sort of just his thing. He was self-deprecating and self-destructive. Though not even Natasha could have predicted the fallout from Phil Coulson.

After New York Clint was understandably a mess. He followed every horrible decision to their disastrous conclusion then found another. He pushed everyone away, or tried to. No one was able to budge Natasha if she didn’t want to.

After DC Clint ran away from everything, Natasha and Kate included. Not only was his ex now undercover in HYDRA, SHIELD was compromised since always, and half his world was a lie. It was all too much for the still recovering marksman to handle, but what sent him off the grid was the fact that the one person he trusted to always have their back, never lie, and keep him on the right path lied. Phil Coulson was more than just alive. He was now director of SHIELD. The salt in the wound? He’d replaced him. Coulson had a team, had for some time now. He had a new agent he gave all his focus and care too. Sure, he didn’t begrudge the girl having someone finally care, but it stung like hell to be so easily forgotten. Clint wasn’t needed. He was useless. It was the final blow. Betrayal, replacement, it broke what small resolve he had left. He was nothing. He was totally numb. He shut down. Without a word he packed his gear, grabbed Lucky, scribbled out a note for Tasha saying he just couldn’t do it and left it next to his cellphone. Left a note for Kate saying it was her turn to be Hawkeye the Avenger, he’d look after Lucky since that was all he was good for these days. He’d miss them both but they’d get over it. Everyone always did.

He drove until he reached the middle of nowhere, found a beat up old house and figured it was as good a place as any to hide from all his problems. Fixing the place up would give him something to do. Something he could devote every ounce of strength and energy he had to. Something to keep him going since he had nothing left. He had nothing but Lucky and a beat up house in the middle of nowhere. It might not have ended the numbness but it was somewhere for him to look after Lucky, maybe a few other animals, and fade in to oblivion where he belonged.

* * *

Steve Rogers was unbelievably disappointed when Phil Coulson, new director of SHIELD, revealed himself. No, that was an understatement. The man was damn near rage filled. He and Natasha had watched guilt and grief tear Clint Barton apart after New York. No one could convince him it wasn’t his fault, it was Loki’s. Not even Thor. He was just getting back to making jokes and smiling, though Steve hated the way the archer’s smile never reached his eyes. How Natasha would spend nights trying to chase off the blue light that surrounded his nightmares and both would remain exhausted. Then in walks Coulson and Steve watched as the color drained from his teammate’s face. Clint paling at the sight of his former handler, his friend, and he could almost see the moment the shudders slammed shut on the archer’s emotions. He watched his friend shut down, hands shaking, and simply walk away. He went to go after him but Natasha stopped him. He’d need time. Not going after him was now added to the pile of big mistakes that Steve seemed to be rapidly collecting.

JARVIS would later tell them that Clint had hardly made it to his room before collapsing in on himself. That broke Steve’s heart. He should have gone after him. He hated himself for not doing more for his teammate. He’d just let another teammate slip away.

The next time Coulson showed up it had only gotten worse. By then Clint had already left. He left everything he couldn’t easily pack up and take without being noticed and leaving only a couple notes saying that they’d be better off without a compromised marksman and that he was replaceable. Kate could easily take over, he’d made sure she knew her stuff and she already had his codename. She’d make a much better Hawkeye for them. It was okay to replace him, everyone else had. Just thinking about it made Steve’s blood run cold. He found he had grown shockingly attached to the foulmouthed archer. He left a void in Steve’s life he wasn’t sure would ever be filled. He’d miss the way even on his bad days Clint would make jokes to try and make others laugh, like it was a way to atone for his failures. He could be a complete mess but he still had their back in the field, even if it meant running himself literally into the ground. He’d take broken bones and concussions over losing anyone else without batting an eye. His team kept him going, Steve could relate to that. The thought that Clint was out there without any back up, without any way for them to reach him, it ate away at him. So Steve felt zero sympathy for Coulson when Natasha walked over and slapped him. She’d clearly wanted to do more but it just wasn’t worth it. Coulson’s team rallied to defend him. Steve easily stepped to Natasha’s side, daring anyone on Coulson’s team to defy him. He was itching to fight, itching to make them realize what they’d done. Coulson just raised his hand and waved off his team as a silently seething Natasha glared and left the room. Not even wasting her time talking to anyone. She’d made her point.

Now it was Steve’s turn. He wanted nothing more than to punch the suited man in the face. He had liked the man, he had mourned the man, he fought a battle in the man’s name, but it was all a ploy. They all fell for it too. Steve watched Natasha leave and the moment she was gone he turned his attention to Coulson. Pouring every ounce of disgust and anger into a single glare, pulling on every bit of his Captain America persona as his hands flexed, wishing he had his shield.

“You have no idea what you have done, do you?” Steve asked the clearly not dead figure in front of him. “You took the one thing we had going and ruined it.” He was using all his will power to keep from ripping into him for destroying their team.

“Fury said-“ Coulson started but Steve didn’t want to hear it.

“Fury manipulated my team and you helped him. If I knew then what the two of you did I’d have let him bleed to death in DC alone.” Steve let out a bitter laugh at the thought. “Fury is gone, and so is my team.”

Coulson looked confused at the Captain’s last statement. He knew Fury had gone into hiding. He’d saved his team members and gone to ground, but for all he knew the Avengers were still a team.

“Oh, I guess no one bothered to notice that we’re now a man down. Too busy building a new team, or rather easily replacing the last one.” He looked from Coulson to the one Natasha had told him was Clint’s ex-wife Bobbi. “Because from where I’m standing breaking him and replacing him seems to be a common thing for your lot.” He looked back to Coulson. “I don’t care if you were legally dead, I don’t care if you were recovering, and honestly, right now I simply don’t care for you at all. I don’t give a fuck why you are here but you have zero right to be after what you did.”

“It was Fury’s-” One of Coulson’s team members, Steve hadn’t cared enough to learn their names, started to say but Steve was so far past the end of his rope he picked up the nearest object and threw it at the wall. Half the room was stunned in silence the other half winced. He was done listening to excuses. He was done with them. He’d have to buy Tony a new lamp, but right now he was trying to make a point. He spent his days worrying about two of his friend that were now lost souls alone and broken out in the world and here he was looking at the reason for one of them. Throwing a lamp was the least of what he felt like doing.

“I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT FURY!” Steve shouted as Sam Wilson who had been silently observing the whole thing finally stepped over and put a hand on Steve’s shoulder. Steve stiffened but didn’t brush him off. He took an angry breath. He turned his focus back to Coulson. “I really don’t care why you are here, but the Avengers no longer owe SHIELD anything.” He crossed his arms to keep from throwing punches. “Besides, you cost us our archer. The SHIELD we owed died with Fury. It ended when those carriers went down and Natasha exposed every secret your agency had. We owe you nothing. Our allegiance has changed and this is all because of you.” He glared at Coulson. “I have never been more disappointed in a single person with possibly the exception of Nick Fury himself.” Steve neared Coulson, getting right in his face and lowering his voice. “You deserve a hell of a lot more than a slap to the face. Barton is gone and he’s never coming back. Fury may have started a lie, but you could have ended it. Put a good man out of his misery, but you let him carry so much guilt it nearly killed him. You’re the reason he left. You’re the reason he’s now out there alone. You had one job, to look after your agents. I hope this new team was worth it.” He poked Coulson in the chest not caring where he hit. If he hit a scar or a sore spot he didn’t care. “If anything happens to him out there or to my team because he’s gone, I will hold you personally responsible. We spent so long trying to convince him that your dying wasn’t his fault. That you’d have wanted him to be strong, I guess we were wrong. Was his sanity an acceptable loss to you? Do you even know how this looks from our side? Because from here it looks like you either blame him or he meant so little to you that you could easily replace him. Sleep with that on your conscience.” With that Steve stormed off, leaving a wide eyed Coulson behind.

“Sir,” Bobbi went to put a hand on his shoulder. The man’s hero had just berated him, and her presence seemed to have made it a bit worse. She had to try and fix that. Coulson just brushed her off and headed to leave. Bobbi was furious. She turned on the nearest person, Sam Wilson. “Do you have any idea what he’s been through?” She glared at Sam. “The things Fury did to him? The things he lived through?”

Sam shrugged. “Honestly, don’t care. Don’t even know the guy outside of the stories they tell. All I see is a man who knew a handful of people who were willing to follow him to his grave, a team that took his loss and in his name saved the world. I see a teammate who never recovered from thinking he got his S.O. murdered. I see a team leader who has been shot multiple times trying to keep a system afloat that cared so little for him and his team that they weren’t worthy enough to know the truth. A girl who lost her mentor because he felt he was too broken to help her anymore. A woman who lost her partner because he thinks if his S.O. and entire support net can lie and replace him then he is only worth living to keep a dog alive. He actually feels he’s worth less than a dog. So excuse me for not being sympathetic for the guy who turned his back on someone who devoted his entire life to him, someone who loved him. I have no sympathy for someone who lets a guy feel that guilty for so long and only shows up because he needs his team.” Sam turned to leave but turned back. “Oh and did the ink even dry on the divorce papers before you saddled your other ex or am I too new around here to know the timeline fully?” He turned and left.

Bobbi stared after him. Sam Wilson hadn’t pulled punches against practical strangers. She could hear grumbling behind her and knew who it was. She followed the path her boss had taken. “Oh shut up, Hunter.” She hissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I own nothing. The next chapter is already in the works. I am a grad student so I cannot guarantee when my chapters will come but they will. The characters might be a little out of character. This is my first multichapter single story for MCU/Avengers. I'm used to playing Clint Barton on tumblr but I'm still working on the other voices. I really just did want to explore how Captain America would deal with Phil Coulson showing up with his new team and as a result Clint going to ground. I left room for potential slashes, the one that jumps out in my head is potential Amerihawk.


	2. Emotions: Anger and Worry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Coulson's visit. Natasha unnerves Sam, ever so slightly. Steve deals with emotions with gym time.

“They’re gone,” Sam states as he walked into the gym. JARVIS had informed him that the spy and the soldier appeared to be there burning off excess anger the main way they knew how, by training. Sam didn’t blame them. “I think between the three of us they now have some thinking to do.”

“Good,” was Natasha’s only response as she dodged the jab Steve sent her way.

“Gave the ex-wife a piece too,” Sam grinned to himself as he made his way closer to where the pair was sparring, but far enough away to stay out of reach. That was one match he did not want to end up in the middle off. “She does know I never actually knew the guy, right? Just got saddled with the aftermath.”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Steve said through gritted teeth. He was still edgy from the whole encounter.

“She came after you?” Natasha glanced at Sam, her severe dislike for her partner’s ex renewed.

“I think she’d have gone after anyone in the room at that point and I was the closes.” Sam shrugged. “Don’t worry. I think I got the last word on that one.”

“Good.” Steve nodded slightly, not taking his eyes off his sparring partner. “Not exactly her biggest fan.”

“That makes two of us.” Natasha added.

“Three.” Sam chipped in.

“How she’d pick them over him is beyond me.” Steve stated, calling a break in the match.

Natasha nodded, going over and grabbing a water bottle. “It’s a long, complicated, and somewhat painful story.” She frowned. “But I feel no sympathy for her now. Salt in the wound to choose her for his team.”

Steve winced at her tone. He didn’t need to ask to know she was talking about Coulson. He’d not only hid the fact he was alive but apparently had chosen to reveal it to Clint’s ex-wife and her other ex-husband who was a mercenary. Phil Coulson picked a mercenary over Clint. That stung just thinking about it.

Natasha didn’t miss the wince. “Coulson knows I’ve killed for less.” She headed for the locker room.

“She just keeps getting scarier.” Sam added once she was out of ear shot.

“And she will until we find Clint.” Steve sighed. They needed to find him fast. “She never stopped looking for him before and that was when he wasn’t himself. Now he’s off alone thinking no one wants him.” The words pained him to say. He wasn’t going to lose another teammate. He’d look for Clint just like he would Bucky. His two friends were out there hurt and confused, he had to find them. He rubbed his hand over his face. It was going to be exhausting trying to find two highly trained assassins, though he hated thinking of either of them like that, _marksmen_ , he mentally corrected. It was the best he could come up with. He had to find two highly trained and talented marksmen who didn’t want to be found.

“We’ll find ‘em,” Sam’s reassuring tone drawing him from his thoughts. “Both of them.”

Steve let out a bitter laugh. The odds weren’t good.

“Come on, man.” Sam looked at him. “Hey, at least we can tell Barton we let Coulson and his crew get a disappointed Cap lecture.”

“Yeah,” Steve sighed. “I guess so.”

* * *

 

Steve was working on destroying another punching bag a few days later when Natasha walked in.

“We found Clint.” She said.

Steve’s hand stilled. “I’m coming with you.”

“I figured. Wheels up in 20.” She called over her shoulder as she walked out.

Steve felt his heart beat a bit faster. They’d found one of them, that was more than he’d let himself hope for.

After a lot of whining from Stark about not being invited, thankfully Bruce helped drag him away; he and Natasha were on their way.

Once the plane had landed and they had gotten a car Steve was actually a bit anxious. They were heading to the middle of nowhere. If anything had happened to Clint no one would have been around to help him.

“He is shockingly capable of taking care of himself.” Natasha stated. He clearly wasn’t doing a good job hiding his nerves. “He’s good at what he does and he’s used to solo ops.”

“But you’re nervous too.” Steve glanced at her as her shoulders stiffened.

“He’s my partner. It’s my job to worry about him.”

“He’s _our_ teammate.”

She nodded slightly before pulling out her phone and sending a message from a burner phone. _We found him. –NR._ After hitting send she turned the phone over pulled the battery and threw it in the back seat. She didn’t have to let them know. She had no obligation to him anymore, but she sent Coulson the message anyway. Whether it was as a taunt as if to say ‘We’re still better at this than your new team combined’ or to put the man somewhat out of his misery was still lost to her but she still did it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I own nothing. This chapter is shorter than I planned but I wanted to get something posted. Next chapter will be them actually finding Clint. Still not sure exactly which slash pairing to go with but working on it. I'm also working on a piece to make this a series, same stuff from Coulson's POV. We'll see what happens.


	3. Sort of Expected Visitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Steve finally track down their missing archer. Kate gets to lecture Clint over busting up Team Hawkeye and stealing Lucky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took forever to post. I've been trying to sort out how to get it to work with everything that has happened. So it's now officially so AU you can't even see canon with a telescope, but I hope someone enjoys it.

Clint had managed to pull together some semblance of a life. He had a roof over his head, food, and that was enough to get him by. He missed his friends but they were better off without him. Though that was apparently coming to a bit of an end, as he watched a car pull into his driveway. He was leaning against the door frame when Nat gracefully got out of the car before it was even stopped. Some things just didn’t change much.

“Took you long enough.” He grinned at her.

“Had to deal with an annoyance first,” she stated plainly as she walked over and slapped the back of his head. “That’s for the vanishing act.”

He hadn’t even had enough time to reach up and rub the back of his head before she hugged him. He froze, she was never much of a hugger, yet her she was hugging him. He couldn’t remember the last actual hug he had. He eventually hugged her back. Before she even pulled away she slapped the back of his head again.

“Hey! What was that one for?” He pulled back, confusion being added to his already skeptical state after the hug.

“Thinking we would ever try and replace you.” Steve called from where he was standing at the bottom of the steps.

Clint must be losing his edge if Captain freakin’ America managed to sneak up on him. He hadn’t noticed the man get out of the car.

“Be glad it’s her and not me.” Steve added.

“You’re not useless.” Natasha cut any reply he had for Steve off. Her tone was quiet, almost too sweet for the Nat he knew. “You’re not replaceable.”

Clint suddenly found his porch very interesting as he avoided looking at either of them.

“And Kate’s mad you took Lucky and didn’t say goodbye.” She added.

Clint sighed. He didn’t have anything to say, no defense, no sarcasm. Natasha let herself in the house as Steve made his way up the stairs.

“If you needed time, you just had to ask.” Steve tried not to sound disappointed or upset.

“I know, I’m a dick.” Clint frowned.

“No, you’re our friend. We worry.” Steve put a hand on Clint’s shoulder. “Don’t run off again, okay?”

“I know.” Clint nodded with a little laugh. “You’ll find me.”

“Damn right.” Natasha called from inside.

“No one gets left behind, that’s what being a team means.” Steve looked at his friend. “And don’t say it’s because you’re still compromised. We all are. That’s why we work as well as we do.”

Clint gave a weak smile. “Sorry I pulled you off looking for Buck to find me.” He grimaced thinking of how much of a burden he is.

“Hey.” Steve squeezed his shoulder. “He’ll show up when he’s ready. You, we weren’t so sure about.”

“Still…” Clint wasn’t sure how to continue. He’d made them waste so much time.

“Clint.” Steve made sure he had the archer’s attention. “You’re my friend and my teammate. Bucky’s looking for answers, he’ll find me when he’s done looking for them himself. You left just as big a hole.”

Clint looked up, totally surprised at that. How could he, a useless ex carnie that’s been brainwashed and broken, be as important to him as his childhood best friend?

“Come inside you two, before I let Lucky slobber on both of you.” Nat yelled.

“He’ll do it anyway, Tash. Empty threat.” Clint shook himself and laughed.

The minute the two were in the door the dog bound from where he’d been on the threadbare sofa with Nat to Steve, sniffing and liking the super soldier.

“He probably found that spot of grease from that burger you insisted you could eat while driving.” Nat grinned.

Steve tried not to feel too embarrassed as he scratched at the back of his neck. “Didn’t see the point in wasting time.” He glanced at Clint as the bowman tried to pull the crazy dog away. “It’s fine.” The super soldier smiled, the first genuine one in weeks as he reached down and scratched behind the dog’s ears. “Always wanted a dog as a kid, but was too sick to have one.” He hadn’t had the chance to tell the archer how much he liked his pet before. “And this dog is just so…” he looked between the dog and its master. “You.”

Clint let out a strange laugh. He was the reason Lucky was the way he was. He was the reason the dog had been injured. The dog had been hit by a car and his life was never the same. He was missing an eye. It made sense. He was just as broken as Lucky had been.

“I mean it. Look at him.” Steve looked at the dog. “He’s been through shit but still,” he knelt down and the dog leaned into him. “Still doesn’t let it be who he is.” He looked up at Clint. “Sure he’s a bit rough around the edges, no pun intended.” He grinned. “But still got enough loyalty, love, and devotion to give.”

Clint wasn’t sure what to say.

“That and he did what we couldn’t.” Steve stood up. “Took care of you.”

Nat could tell Clint was a bit at a loss. “Why don’t you give us a tour?” She stood up from the couch, where she had been observing the entire one sided conversation. “I’m curious to see what you’ve been up to without me keeping  you inline.”

“Yeah, sure.” Clint nodded, giving her a small smile. “It’s not much, still working on it, but sure.” He looked at Steve who just smiled and nodded. “Living room, obviously you figured that out.” He scratched at his neck, mimicking the nervous gesture Steve had been doing. “Kitchen’s that way.” He headed to the next room. “Wasn’t exactly expecting to entertain so I’ll have to make a trip into town.” He bit back the urge to tidy up. Captain America was now looking at his messy, yet empty, kitchen.

“We didn’t exactly call ahead.” Steve shrugged.

“Afraid I would bolt?” Clint  asked without thinking, kicking himself slightly when Steve’s pained eyes looked at him. He hadn’t expected that look.

“You knew I’d show up.” Nat offered, breaking the tension some. “Said so yourself.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.” Clint sighed.

* * *

Clint showed them the rest of the house and anything else they’d have even the slightest interest. He was happy to stall any and all potentially serious conversations for as long as he could. Sure they’d gone over a bit when they had showed up but no one had said anything about what had sent him running. He was sure it’d come up sooner rather than later. They had just stepped into the living room after he’d given them a quick tour of the barn he was fixing up when Nat tossed something at him. He caught it practically on instinct alone.

“Call her.” Nat said as she headed towards the door, “If only to tell her Lucky hasn’t lost a fight with a coyote or something equally as rural and ridiculous.”

Clint looked down at the phone, his phone. He wasn’t exactly surprised she had kept it.

“You can help me.” Nat grabbed Steve by the arm and pulled towards the door.

Steve looked from where the archer stared at his phone to Nat. He debated staying but he knew Clint wouldn’t make the call if he was there. He waited until the other man had raised the phone to his ear before heading out to the car.

“I knew he’d be expecting us eventually.” Nat grinned to herself as she opened the trunk of the car.

“He expected you.” Steve corrected as he reached in to pull out the bags Nat had said would come in handy. “Or maybe Kate.”

Nat laughed and shook her head. “Maybe but he wouldn’t have bothered with the hearing aids if it was just me.” She smiled as the soldier beside her stilled slightly. He clearly hadn’t considered that. He knew the archer had hearing loss but he’d gotten so used to it not being an issue that he didn’t even consider it. Nat had known sign language. It was an important thing to know in case they’d been captured and all their gear and tech taken. He considered learning it as team leader once but Clint had laughed and waved the idea off. He could lip read in multiple languages, he’d survive. He’d looked at Steve with a grin and said, _“Besides, easier to ignore them trying to get intel when I can’t actually hear their stupidity.”_

Steve now really wished he’d have learned. Steve was forced out of his thoughts when Nat’s shoulder bumped his as she pulled out another bag. “He should probably wear them for his own safety,” he said without really thinking.

“Since when has Barton ever bothered to care about his own safety,” Nat replied as she double checked a bag and closed the trunk. “That’s always been _our_ job.”

The captain didn’t miss the inclusive emphasis. “Better late than never I guess,” He mumbled a bit as they headed back inside.

* * *

“YOU’RE AN IDIOT!” Kate Bishop shouted after picking up on the second ring.

“Hello to you too, Hawkeye.” Clint sighed. He knew she would be angry.

“Don’t even try that on my, Clint!” Kate’s angry tone ringing clear over the line. “How could you just leave like that? We could have-”

He cut her tirade off. “They needed someone they could count on. I…I can’t be that right now, Kate.” His own voice sounding tired to his ears.

“And who am I supposed to count on? We were a team!” Kate shouted. “Team Hawkeye!”

“Them, Kate.” Clint stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You know Nat, sort of. Hell, you even know-“ He cut himself off. He’d almost mentioned Bobbi but even that was too painful. “I know you’ll get along with all of them. You just needed a reason to try. So I made it easy.”

“Easy? Ha!” Kate’s tone turned bitter. “Easy watching Nat tear after every possible lead, Cap pouting when every single one turned out to be a dead end? Have you seen him sad? Seriously, it’s like a kicked puppy. You and I both know what that looks like.”

Clint cringed at the visual. “They’ll just have to-“

“NO! Clint they wont ever come around to the idea. If you’re talking to me that means they’re there. That means this wasn’t a dead end. Do you really think they’re just going to walk away? Let you slip through the cracks again?” Kate wasn’t about to mince words.

“You don’t understand Kate, this is bigger than-”

She cut him off again, “No, you don’t get it. JARVIS showed me what happened when that team came back.”

“They came back?” Clint felt like he’d been kicked in the chest.

“Yeah, and the team wouldn’t even let me be there! They figured I’d do something…” she was searching for the right word and her still angry brain made it difficult.

“Hawkeye like?” He supplied as he moved to the window to watch Nat and Steve out by the car.

“Like you’d usually do, I was going to go with stupid by the way.” He could almost hear the eye roll in her tone. “Some team, although I actually cheered when she hit him.”

“Wait, who hit who?” Clint asked.

“I’m pretty sure that’s not proper English but Natasha slapped Coulson, almost ended in a throw down between teams it looked like but that didn’t happen. Honestly, Cap looked like he would have busted a few skulls if he’d had his shield. I’d have happily brought it to him too.” Kate sounded all too happy about that idea.

Clint rubbed at his eyes. No wonder they were here, if Coulson’s team came back that meant everything was still screwed up.

“Though all he really did was bust a lamp. Sam put a stop to it. OH and If I ever see Bobbi again I’m going to punch her and that smug Hunter guy in the face for good measure,” Kate carried on, “assuming Sam doesn’t get to it first. Maybe we could tag team. He even thinks she a full on bit-”

Clint cut her off again. “It’s not even worth it, Kate.” He shook his head. How could his life cause this much trouble when he wasn’t even there? How was he that destructive?

“Yes it is. Can’t you see that? They drove you away and I’m not about to let them get away with that.  That’s the opposite of okay. You belong here, Clint. You’re Hawkeye, you’re an Avenger. You should be here with your team, not me.”

“You’re Hawkeye now. I’m-”

“NOPE!” Kate stopped him. “I refuse to listen to this. If they don’t bring you back I’ll drag you back myself. Lucky’s practically my dog too. You can’t just keep him all to yourself.”

“What is this, a custody battle?” Clint laughed, he looked up as Nat and Steve came back toward the house.

“That’s part of it. You just vanished on me and that is not okay, Clint Barton. That dog needs me, you can hardly keep yourself alive let alone him.” Kate was clearly worried about them. “You’ll both starve, even terrible pizza is better than nothing. He’s probably homesick because of it. Probably misses me and has pizza withdrawal.”

Nat grinning at the archer’s raised brow as they walked past him towards the kitchen. Barton was still on the phone. Steve just nodded towards the redhead with a half shrug as Clint turned to him. Steve followed Nat to the kitchen.

“Yeah, I know Kate. I’m the worst.” Clint kept right on talking to Kate, while he wondered what they had brought. “And no he’s not going through withdrawal; they have pizza in the country too, not that you’d know.”

“That frozen junk doesn’t even count. It’s like cardboard with cheese.” Kate groaned. “I don’t even know how you can stomach that stuff, is it even digestible? I knew I should have put him on a better diet, you too actually. You’re both so used to eating junk. I should just come out there and kick your butt for feeding him junk.”

Clint couldn’t help but laugh at that.

Nat’s grinned ever so slightly as she watched Steve’s shoulders relax even more when they both heard her partner’s drawn out laugh at whatever was said on the other end of the line.

“Frozen pizza’s not that bad and you should see him with pizza rolls.” Clint chuckled as he rounded the corner to see what they were doing. “Fine, yeah, you can see for yourself soon.” He paused then gave an overdramatic eye roll that was meant mainly for the two standing in his kitchen and less for the younger Hawkeye on the phone.

“Good, I’m shocked the two of you aren’t dead without me there to keep you from turning the oven into a weapon of mass destruction. I’ve seen the way you function in the kitchen. You’re a menace to yourself and others. You need me.”  

Clint could tell her anger had mostly faded; now it was just jabs at his cooking. “I’ll try not to blow anything up until you get here. Miss you too, Hawkeye. Listen I have to go, talk to you soon.”

“You better not.” Kate sighed. “You better actually call me now that you have your phone.”

“You know you can’t get rid of me that easy,” Clint laughed. “Bye, Hawkeye.”

“Say hi to Lucky for me. See you soon, Hawkeye.” Kate ended the call.

 He grinned a bit at the phone after it disconnected. “There goes the neighborhood.” He tossed it on the counter and looked over at the other two.

“I’m glad we found you when we did. Kate’s right, few more weeks on just this and I think you’d have turned into an even bigger mess.” Nat said as she closed the freezer door.

“Haven’t burned the place down yet.” Clint grinned, he was actually a bit glad they were there. He’d forgotten how bad being on your own could be, nothing but you and your thoughts.

“Yet,” the Russian grinned as she pulled out a small fire extinguisher as a joke. _Mostly_.

“And here I thought I’d never get any housewarming gifts.” He grinned taking the extinguisher.

“It is a nice house, we‘d be sad to see it go up in flames because of a frozen pizza.” Steve smiled, he mostly meant it. Though he’d much rather have the archer back with them, back at the tower, back home.

“Me too.” Clint nodded. “So what’s for dinner, since you clearly already planned it out.”

“Real food.” Nat looked at him. “How would you ever survive without us?”

“Never have, never will apparently.” Clint grinned.

Neither Nat or Steve decided to point out he clearly had survived before he met them. They were happy to let that time stay gone for a little bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I own nothing. The drive to continue this story comes from my utterly self-destructive tendency for procrastination on homework and a renewed love of unusual and crazy shenanigans. You can thank that one Avengers crossover fic with John Dies at the End (my new literary obsession!) for the renewed muse.  
> Next chapter is in the works. Then I'll do another Coulson one...though that might be more difficult. We'll see.  
> Again sorry for the wait.


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